


body; bow

by iwaoiks



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Kyudo, M/M, gen? i think?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24718597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwaoiks/pseuds/iwaoiks
Summary: Shinsuke’s eyes wander down the rigid frame of his back, the way it stands as if to say,don’t you dare look away. Watch me. Watch.Shinsuke obliges.Or: running, rising, and a third unnameable discipline.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Kita Shinsuke
Comments: 19
Kudos: 114





	body; bow

**Author's Note:**

> I recommend listening to RADWIMPS's Goshintai as you read! ([youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=859irmLjQ44)) ([spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/58nJFzpbVKVX3DWOO0qZxE?si=nFRcnmAlT4-uXBrMWGAIQg))

Every morning the same rituals. Every morning Shinsuke wakes before the sun, makes his bed, these mechanisms of a brand new day; Shinsuke puts on his running shoes, and begins his morning jog down the usual dirt road. 10, 20, 30 minutes. The road is neither too long, nor too wide. The sun rises. Shinsuke’s pace is steady in his feet.

* * *

When he arrives at the _kyudojo_ , someone else is already there.

Running shoes, broken into and dirty with use, align neatly by the entrance. The criss-cross of red is a familiar pattern; Shinsuke hears the soft _fwip_ of an arrow flying loose and thinks, _ah_ , Iwaizumi has already begun. Ahead, a thunder cloud inches ever closer. He places his shoes next to the ones taking shade, and makes his way to the changing room.

The polished wooden floor of the _kyudojo_ glistens in the dim morning light when Shinsuke steps inside. He knows, without looking, that the plants by the shrine have already been watered, too. Every day the folds of the _hakama_. Every day the taut draw of the bow. Every day the same rituals, whether it is him performing them, or the archer currently taking aim. Iwaizumi’s back is to him. He hasn’t noticed Shinsuke, yet.

He raises his arms up, and begins to draw his bow. Shinsuke watches quietly as the lines of Iwaizumi’s arms go taut, muscles shifting beneath the fabric of his _kyudogi._ His gaze is sharp, focused, intense. His grip on the bow is firm, but relaxed. Shinsuke’s eyes wander down the rigid frame of his back, the way it stands as if to say, _don’t you dare look away. Watch me. Watch._ Shinsuke obliges.

Iwaizumi releases the arrow. The sound it makes cuts a path to where Shinsuke stands, a pierce through the air as sharp as the arrow hitting its target. For a moment, Iwaizumi does not move, arms still outstretched like he does not wish to disturb even an atom of this moment. Shinsuke understands, so he doesn’t move either.

Then Iwaizumi lets out a slow, quiet breath, and folds his arms to his waist, that everyday ritual. He moves to nock another arrow, and Shinsuke makes his presence known.

“You’re early,” he says, voice carrying steadily through the air. Iwaizumi doesn’t startle at its gentle lilt, almost as if he’d known Shinsuke would appear like this, one way or the other; their rituals, after all, have come to overlap, and Shinsuke finds a quiet pleasure in finding Iwaizumi beside him, within those layers of days. Iwaizumi turns only his head towards Shinsuke, looking over his shoulder. The sky behind him rumbles dark, but his smile retains its gentle brightness.

“I saw it was going to rain,” he replies, turning back to the bow in his hands. “So I forewent my morning run to shoot instead.”

Iwaizumi looks ahead to the _matoba_ , where the targets lay waiting, as if to say, _meet me where you stand._ Shinsuke nods, a silent acknowledgement, and faces forward too.

* * *

“Your shoulders are too tense,” Shinsuke says, drawing closer to Iwaizumi. He puts a steady hand on his shoulder, feels the muscles relax beneath its weight. His other hand comes down to press lightly against Iwaizumi’s stomach, the slightest pressure. “Remember to breathe.”

Iwaizumi does. He lets out a slow, slow breath, bow still drawn, eyes never leaving the target. But his gaze softens, Shinsuke sees, and it is so easy to see under their proximity; green eyes glisten bright despite the darkening sky, a warmth like a rising sun, like the heat that rises after a morning jog. Shinsuke can feel Iwaizumi’s breaths beneath his palm, the mechanisms of life; Iwaizumi exhales one more time before Shinsuke steps back to let his arrow fly.

* * *

“You’re late,” Iwaizumi says, another stormlit day. Shinsuke has just stepped into the _kyudojo_ , the _hakama_ tied neatly around his waist, and Iwaizumi already has his bow and arrow in hand. He’s grinning as he says it, a teasing curve, and Shinsuke has to stop a moment to consider this. He’s never been told he was late before. The surprise seems to show on his face, because Iwaizumi laughs, loud and hearty, a sunflare shot to a near-weeping sky. Shinsuke finds the accusation amusing, if not refreshing.

“I’m right on time,” he says, which they both know is the truth. He steps closer, to take his own place before the target. “I went for my morning jog as always.”

“Even though you know it’d rain?”

Iwaizumi isn’t looking towards the targets, this time. Shinsuke turns to him, smiling. “Running is training too.”

Iwaizumi lets out another laugh at that, the rumble of it unfit for the smell of thunder in the air. “I guess you’re right,” he says, mouth returning to that soft, increasingly familiar smile. A new ritual, perhaps, to Shinsuke’s day-to-day. “We should go running together, one of these days.”

The suggestion comes as naturally as the folds of a _hakama_ , as the taut draw of a bow. Thunder rumbles overhead, but he feels warmth where Iwaizumi’s gaze falls, like a rising sun.

“Yes, we should.”

* * *

Every morning the same rituals. Shinsuke begins his morning jog down the usual dirt road, and finds beside him a boy of equal measure, overlapping rituals. The road is neither too long, nor too wide. Their pace stays steady in their feet.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to [kam](https://twitter.com/ahkaashikeiji) for beta-ing this fic! this was extremely self-indulgent. and also propaganda for my kyudo!iwaizumi agenda. pls i just wanna see him in a hakama
> 
> my twitter is @[iwaoiks](https://twitter.com/iwaoiks)!


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